A Promise Is A Promise
by mcmiffstery
Summary: That which was once lost is found, and she's not exactly what Legolas expected.
1. Default Chapter

A/N: This story is based on the characters created by J.R.R. Tolkien and put on screen by Director Peter Jackson, with the screen writing talents of Fran Walsh and Philipa Boyens. No toe stepping or infringements intended. All are characters are a figment of my imagination.  
  
Review, please I look forward to any and all insights and suggestions, as this is only my 2nd Legolas fanfic I'll most likely need suggestions too :) Enjoy!  
  
mcmiffstery xxx  
  
Chapter 1. A Promise  
  
".And so we took the small axe and chisels and spent nigh on four moons just to tease out the perfect shape for the amethyst lode.it reminded me much of the delicate curve of The Lady's cheek, it had the same..."  
  
Legolas nodded as he tuned out what his friend, Gimli, riding pillion behind him on the horse was saying to concentrate on what his keen senses were trying to tell him. They rode at a steady pace across the sweeping plains of Rohan, Legolas sought with clear blue eyes across a matching sky for any further hint to explain what he was feeling. He sensed danger, but not. Legolas pulled further into himself, shutting out the noise, and smell of the dwarf and concentrated. His ears started to tingle and then it spread to the rest of his body. This wasn't danger; this was the impossible.  
  
"Hold on." He spoke quietly, his voice carrying only in the weight of his warning.  
  
"What's that you say?" Gimli rudely, in his mind, interrupted from a soliloquy about the fair Lady Galadriel. He sighed thinking about the lost to middle earth as she sailed to the Far Havens.  
  
"Hold on!" Legolas felt Gimli's hands tighten on his waist and urged Arod into a fast gallop.  
  
It took Gimli almost the whole first league to stop gurgling incoherently and speak his mind, "Is that as fast as ye can go then?" He asked and then bit back a shout of alarm as Legolas leant over Arod's ears and whispered something softer than the dwarf's ears could catch and the horse galloped even faster. Gimli concentrated on staying on the quickly moving beast and was just starting to relax and their breakneck pace slowed. "Pointy eared fool, were you *deliberately* trying to kill me or is this one of your feeble Elf jokes? Argh!" Gimli fell off the horses back with a thud. Legolas looked down and spared a quick grin before dismounting a little more elegantly.  
  
"Did I startle you?" Legolas asked, only the twinkling in his eyes giving away his mirth as Gimli scrambled back onto his stocky legs. "Would you like me to find you some refreshment?"  
  
"Damned Elf!" Gimli huffed to hide the laugh rattling around in his barrel chest. He stood and took a good look at the world now it had stopped moving past at an alarmingly blurry fashion. He looked behind Legolas, and then at Legolas and then behind him again. "Fangorn."  
  
"I have been called." Legolas spoke as softly as always as he turned to look at the daunting tangle of trees and undergrowth. He could hear the anger in the forest, but it was the message underneath the sigh and creaks of tree boughs that held his attention. It had been many lives of men since he had felt the calling. He took a step forward, blinking in surprise as he felt a strong hand grip his wrist.  
  
"No. It is too dangerous laddie." Gimli's gruff voice was thick with concern.  
  
"You do not need to follow me." Legolas said and smiled at Gimli's concern. His friend always seemed to think of him as in someway helpless, it was that he looked so young Legolas suspected, no matter how many Orcs he slaughtered or Nazgul he shot out of the sky in Gimli's eyes he would always be a 'laddie'. He felt his body tense as the call came again. Memory, like a bursting dam, ran through his mind.  
  
Fifty years earlier.  
  
"Legolas!" He turned as his friend Lostseregion hailed him; he turned to lift his hand and nod in acknowledgement. He turned and continued; seeing far ahead the edge of the Mirkwood as those outside called it, he called it home. "Ho! Legolas!" He could hear Lostseregion running swiftly to catch him, that in it self was enough to make Legolas pause again, and the host traveling with him paused as well. He turned and watched his lifelong friend stop and stare at him. Legolas straightened as he detected pity in his friend's eyes. There was nothing to pity, he was about to explore the wide world, to see what the elders spoke of in song and soft words, and to see what they whispered and argued in harsh tones about too. He was to find seek knowledge from the Lord Elrond. To find the source of the darkness clouding his fathers, the king's, mind.  
  
"The King sends one last word of warning to his youngest son." Lostseregion smile transformed his beautiful yet harsh face. Legolas had the feeling that his father merely wanted to get Lostseregion out from under his feet for five minutes.  
  
"Speak." Legolas commanded and could almost feel the suppressed grins from behind him as Lostseregion shot him a dark look that boded swift revenge when he returned.  
  
"He says to play nicely with the Elf Maidens of Rivendell." Lostseregion smiled toothily and turned to run back the way he came, melting into the forest he disappeared.  
  
"In other words look for a wife." Legolas muttered under his breath and turned his horse with a gentle nudge and word back towards the path that would lead him towards whatever fate had in store for him. He ignored the laughs and pointed teasing that went on around him. Marriage seemed to Legolas like the very last thing he wanted to do. His father had other ideas pointing out that most of his kin were betrothed before they saw one hundred summers, not almost three thousand. "I wish to see the sky and hear the wind, not to spend my days in quiet contemplation" He spoke so softly even the sharp Elvin ears around him didn't hear.  
  
******  
  
Legolas touched his ear idly, the tingling had been growing more persistent and even more annoying as the journey continued through its third seven- day, around him his companions rested, their eyes seeing other stars than the ones they stared up at. Sighing Legolas stood up and searched with all his senses for the cause of the disturbance to his peace. It was like something called to him. It hinted at secrets and longing and tonight there was something else.fear.and danger. Legolas looked to the east, his eyes piercing the darkness, nothing moved save small animals seeking food under cover of darkness. He walked two steps towards the feeling; it pulled sharply, as if something seemed to reach out to touch him.  
  
"Strange." he whispered, picking up his bow and quiver Legolas walked silently to the oldest of his companions touching is shoulder lightly Legolas waited for Haewethion to focus and then spoke with his heart hammering as the call started to fade. "I must go, I will meet you at the ford if I can."  
  
"Prince!" Haewethion spoke and would have stalled Legolas until he saw the look in the younger elf's eyes. "Go, we will wait as long as we can. We you tell me what this errand is?"  
  
"I cannot say, it is still.unclear." Legolas looked east again and rose, "I will find you when all is found and done."  
  
"Travel safe youngling." Haewethion said calmly and lay back down.  
  
"If at all possible I will." Legolas said as he mounted Frega and rode swiftly from their camp. He didn't know if keeping himself safe was going to be the real problem, or if finding out what the calling would be.  
  
Behind Haewethion spoke to the night, "Keep her safe Princeling."  
  
*******  
  
He was as tired as he could ever remember being, as the day ended and the sun went down the call had grown fainter, edged around the fear was hopelessness, so sharp it made Legolas stumble at the base of a steep rocky outcrop. As he pushed himself up from the ground he heard it. Snarling and fierce barking. Without thinking Legolas sprinted up the slope, drawing his bow and notching an arrow he saw the pack of wolves surrounding a narrow fissure in the rock. A faint cry alerted him to the fact that someone was inside, in pain and almost beaten. He let fly with his arrows, one after another, until the remaining of the pack snarled in frustration and fear, they slunk off into the rolling mass of stones, boulders and stunted brush. Legolas approached the cave with caution, firing one last arrow into the darkness he was rewarded with a soft thud.  
  
"AHH!" He yelled and the sound of soft padded feet faded into the distance. Satisfied that at least for the moment the path to the cave was clear and relatively safe Legolas approached the crack in the rock with caution, his soft boots making no sound on bare stone, he took a knife from the scabbard at his back.  
  
He stared into the deeper darkness of the fissure, trying to make out what it was the wolves had been hunting.  
  
"Stay away!" The voice was harsh with pain and fear. Legolas heard the sound of feet scrabbling on loose rock, and then a moan of pain. He moved cautiously, sensing there was still danger.  
  
"I would help you if I may." Legolas let the unfamiliar Westron speech flow from his tongue as he entered the fissure and saw it opened into a small space, with a quick glance he saw the rough sleeping mat and the remnants of a cooking fire and utensils. He stopped the blow well before it fell.  
  
"Ahh!" Legolas stared at the woman whose wrist he held, the knife in her hand dropped as she cried out in pain again. Legolas was shocked, believing that he had used only enough strength to stop her hand; he had not intended to injure. He stopped as the woman fell to the floor of the cave, clutching at her distended stomach. She looked up at him through tears and he saw that once she had been a great beauty of her people, deep red hair fell now in tangles around her ruined face, the rake of claws had ripped the skin of her cheek and destroyed one of her eyes, the other, a deep green stared at him. "You're an Elf!"  
  
"Yes, Lady what ails you?"  
  
"You.must.leave."  
  
"I cannot leave you in distress."  
  
"He will find us."  
  
"He?"  
  
"Sar.ahhh!" The woman groaned and reached out to grip his hand, "It comes."  
  
"What?" Legolas asked and looked around, he felt nothing, no danger apart from the sulking wolves as they sought out other, easier, targets, and he felt the pull again like a moth to a candle flame. "The giving of a child." He said in wonder as he finally realized what the rounded rippling stomach of the woman portended. "We must find a healer of your people." Legolas reached out to lift the woman but stopped as she shook her head.  
  
"There is no time.ughn.you must help me." The woman started to pant and there was a rushing sound and fluid suddenly dampened and then drenched the stone floor of the cave. Grimacing slightly Legolas lifted the woman gently to the makeshift pallet.  
  
"I. I do not know what to do Lady." Legolas looked at the woman and then the moving bulge under her dirty robe. She gritted her teeth and panted heavily.  
  
"You.catch." She said and held her breath before pulling the skirt of her robe up and over her knees. Presented with something he never expected to see Legolas swallowed in a gulp and looked away before taking a deep breath and turning back to watch as the woman pushed again. He jumped as she spoke in his native tongue; "What is your name?"  
  
"Legolas." He answered before getting up to restart the fire and placed a pan of water over it. He turned back swiftly as the woman gasped, but what made him turn was the call, it was back, it was weak but still there, like quicksilver in his mind it sought him out. 'Pain' it whispered and he felt tears prickle in his troubled blue eyes.  
  
"I am Halwyn of Rohan, Daughter of Halmeth." Halwyn bore down once more and Legolas moved in time to see a tiny head emerge and then a shoulder, he managed just to catch as Halwyn had instructed.  
  
"A maid!" Legolas looked down in wonder at the small body in his hands, covered in birth fluid the baby didn't move.  
  
"A girl!" Halwyn breathed and then reached out, "Let me see her."  
  
"My lady Halwyn." Legolas looked down in dismay at the silent child, knowing not what to do, he looked a little closer, and he cleared the fluids from her nose and mouth.  
  
"She does not make a sound, Legolas. does she live? It was too soon. she is too small. Hold her up by the feet and smack her bottom once Legolas" Halwyn's voice was weak, and Legolas looked from the babe to the woman who had been gifted with her, there was blood, too much blood. He felt the call waver, it had been almost clear and now it faded, he did as Halwyn said; there was no change to the baby. Looking down Legolas covered the baby's mouth with his own and breathed out gently, willing the tiny lungs to expand and breathe. He looked down and then at Halwyn who was reaching out blindly through tears.  
  
"Breathe little one. *Ú i vethed... nâ i onnad*1" Legolas whispered hoping the words had some power, wishing for once that he had spent more time learning the ways of power than the bow, willing life into the frail body that fit in cupped bowl of his hands, he sighed as nothing happened, and then he reached deeply within himself to find the call, it was still there, he concentrated, trying to fan it back to life in the same way he had with the fire, it wasn't so easy, but he called to it, filling it with his hope and happiness, with memories of the great trees and the sky, the birds that sang and the stars that shines for all to see. He jumped as the baby twitched and then let out a startlingly loud scream. "Greetings.  
  
"Let me hold her, just once. Oh Luinëros our daughter! She will have you mother's name." Legolas looked for who Halwyn was talking to, there was no one, Legolas looked at the baby and then back at Halwyn, "Legolas you must take her to Fan.to Fangorn forest, one will be waiting for you there, he will keep her safe."  
  
"Fangorn? You must jest, surely." He smiled as the babe cried once more; she looked peaceful and outraged at being forced into a new world all at the same time, as he watched he saw Halwyn's head loll to one side.  
  
"Thank you Legolas, promise me you will take her. They will find you, on the southern edge of the forest."  
  
Legolas looked at the woman and then the baby, the calling was muted but he still felt it singing in his veins, it wasn't everyday an Elf helped bring a new human life into the world. "I will, but how will I know who it is I should gift her to?" He felt a stirring of concern for the little one's fate. He wondered how much they would laugh at him at home if they knew he was agreeing to take charge of a child of man.  
  
Halwyn breathed one last word, a name: "Tanaearien." Halwyn smiled once at her daughter and left. Legolas watched, as Tanaearien seemed to try to burrow into her mother's chest. He rested his hand against his heart and murmured, "*Hiro îth. ab 'wanath...*" Tanaearien whimpered and Legolas felt the first clutch of what he could only identify as fear as he realized he was now in sole possession of and responsible for a small baby of Man.  
  
He picked up the cloak from the floor and then regarded it with a grimace before pulling the quiver off his back and tearing its soft kid lining out. He ripped a piece of cloth from his under tunic and dipped it into the water he had set aside from the fire, picking Tanaearien up gently he carefully cut her umbilical cord and tied it to stop any bleeding before carrying her over to the fire and bathing her body, she was so tiny, he handled her with as much care as he could muster  
  
Legolas thought but he recognized the name Luinëros, it was the name of one of the exiles that had gone from the Wood many years previously, all had assumed he had found his death or sought the Far Havens. For the first time Legolas noticed that Tanaearien had delicately pointed ears. "Half-Elf" he breathed in astonishment, it was something almost unheard of for the past age at least, it was, he thought, almost an impossibility. All of Legolas' uncharacteristically muddled thoughts stilled as he looked down to see himself being regarded by the palest green eyes he'd ever seen, like the silver underside leaf of a birch, she watched him with serious eyes and Legolas smiled "*Mae govannen Tanaearien*".  
  
************  
  
Five days later Legolas approached Fangorn Forest with a happily gurgling Tanaearien on his back in place of arrows in his quiver.  
  
"This is not a good place." Legolas said and Tanaearien gurgled a bit more, "You my Little Lady, should be sounding a lot more concerned." Legolas stopped and sat waiting.  
  
Hours later Legolas sat singing one of the bawdier songs of his people when he detected another sound. Rising swiftly he was ready with his bow and single arrow before whatever it was broached the tree line. The wood spoke of old things, its anger muted. Legolas almost fell over as one of the trees stepped forwards. Taking a second look Legolas realized what he was seeing, and wonder filled his heart so much he had trouble speaking.  
  
"Ent Master." Legolas bowed his head and then spun as he felt the quiver torn from his back. "No!" The Ent held Tanaearien high above Legolas's head. "Let her go."  
  
"Hrrooom, an Elf? It is a long time since any of your kind visited our forest." The Ent said slowly, its deep booming voice sending vibrations through the ground and up through Legolas' tense body.  
  
"I made a promise to bring Tanae.Tanaearien to the forest, for safe keeping." Legolas explained and he swiftly calculated the best way to climb the Ent and get his Little Lady back.  
  
"I will keep her safe as I promised her father not more than a moment hence."  
  
"It takes longer than that to be gifted with child" Legolas pointed out as he prepared to spring. Usually Legolas would never even dream of attempting to even touch one of the tree herders without express permission but a promise was never made lightly.  
  
"In the lives of men, but to me this has been little more than a pass of mere moments, but that is the way it is with Ents, do not try to follow, the forest will not let you." Legolas stared as the Ent disappeared, taking Tanae with him, Legolas took a deep breath and entered the wood, but could not see or hear where the Ent had gone, as he pressed forwards the trees closed in, and all of his senses screamed to flee, in the end Legolas only made it out of the wood as the trees clashed in their haste to get to him. Standing well out of reach Legolas looked back towards the forest and whispered.  
  
"Good bye Tanae. I AM LEGOLAS, remember me!" He mounted his horse swiftly and rode towards his promised meeting at the ford.  
  
"Legolas, damn elf hearing, LEGOLAS!" Gimli accompanied his shout with a poke in Legolas' side with the butt of his axe. Legolas blinked away the memories and looked down at his stout companion.  
  
"Yes?" He hid a sigh as Gimli grumbled.  
  
"What are we doing here Lad? Are we not going in as we spoke of?" Gimli referred to their agreement regarding a little sightseeing tour around Middle Earth, Fangorn and then the Glittering Caves behind Helm's Deep.  
  
"There's something in there." Legolas said quietly, feeling the old tingling sensation wash through his body.  
  
"Well yes, old angry trees for one, but the quicker we go in the sooner we're out. Lets get going!" Gimli walked towards the treeline. Only Legolas' quick reflexes saved him from the arrow that whizzed above his head. "What was that? Grrrr.." Gimli picked himself off the ground again, "Don't tell me the trees have worked out how to use a bow.lets visit the living forest he says, it looks interesting, oh yes and now it shoots arrows."  
  
"Shh My friend, someone approaches. I don't *think* the trees have worked out how to use a bow, but I'd say she has." Legolas relaxed and lowered his bow, as a slim figure seemed to separate from the forest.  
  
"Who are you?" the voice, speaking the tongue of man, was muffled by the multi green scarf wrapped around most of the bow wielder's head, "And what is your business here?"  
  
Anticipating Gimli's usual response Legolas put a hand on his shoulder and spoke first, "I am Legolas and this is Gimli Son of Gloin, we simply wish to walk the shaded paths of the Fangorn forest.  
  
"No one just takes a walk through the forest."  
  
"You seem to be doing fine doing just that Stranger," Gimli said in a feisty tone and Legolas bit back a grin.  
  
"A Dwarf and an Elf, very strange." The stranger walked towards then, never relaxing completely just as Legolas did.  
  
"Not so strange as a daughter of Men and Elves protecting the same forest." Legolas put up his hands as an arrow was aimed directly at his chest.  
  
**********  
  
1. This is not the end... it is the beginning. 


	2. On the Edge

Disclaimer: Ok As I mentioned before this Legolas and Gimli owe more to the characterizations in the the first two parts of "the Lord of the Rings - the Fellowship of the Ring & The Two Towers" scripted by those mentioned in chapter 1, and portrayed by Orlando Bloom (Legolas) and John Rhys Davies (Gimli) all other characters so far are a product of my imagination so I suppose you could say I own them. This is a work of fiction and written as a fan, not for profit. And that said.  
  
A/N : Hello, thanks for reviewing! Keep it up, I hope you enjoy this as much as I'm enjoying writing it :)  
  
Miff xoxox  
  
"What iis/i that?" Gimli spoke as an aside to Legolas as the figure approached. It looked like some kind of walking log covered in dirt and branches, and it smelled. "What a stench, that alone makes me want to either kill it or leave, either way would be more kindly to my nose."  
  
"If it offends your delicate senses my friend, avail yourself of the fresh breeze a little further away," Legolas spared at look at Gimli who started to turn red.  
  
"Delicate? A dwarf can stand anything some pointy-ear can and more, there are places in my home that would melt your nose if you were to but breathe the stench.blaghhh!" Gimli held a mailed hand up to his nose, as the figure got closer.  
  
"Try to avoid my boots if you feel your stomach can't match your words." Legolas said quietly and Gimli attempted to give him the silent treatment. "We mean no harm, we are passing through."  
  
"As I said before no one just chances through the forest, not even a strange party like yourselves, what is your real reason."  
  
"That is our reason." Legolas said calmly as he looked into the palest green eyes he had ever seen, he let his eyes roam across the tangle of branches and moss and mud that made up the Fangorn forest residents clothing, or more accurately camouflage.  
  
"I saw the armies, I saw Rohan's victory at Helms Deep. The trees seem to whisper about it through day and night." The voice was gruff but more relaxed; the hands on the bow were not.  
  
"They want what they didn't get to eat last time." Gimli muttered and fingered his walking axe.  
  
"They know all who walk their paths." Legolas looked at the forest and then smiled, Gimli frowned in bemusement as he saw the bow wiggle a little. "Mayhap you could show us a safe path through the forest my Lady."  
  
"Uh." The bow shook again.  
  
"'My Lady'? How can ye tell? I know your elf eyes see a lot, but.a Lady?" Gimli looked up at his friend and then back at the absurd figure standing a little distance away.  
  
"Your horse will never make it through." the bow dipped and Legolas almost relaxed completely. The strange figure bore little resemblance to what he had been expecting, but then he didn't really know what he had been expecting. He absently fingered his ear as they tingled.  
  
"Arod will find his way to Edoras, and we will find him there." He spoke quietly, his attention elsewhere. Somewhere close, danger approached.  
  
"Are you saying we're walking all the way to Edoras?" Gimli asked and then slumped down over his axe shaft to hide his grin.  
  
"Edoras?" The figure approached slowly, Gimli grunted and swiped at his nose and Legolas tried to breathe as slowly as possible.  
  
"Yes, that is one of our destinations." Legolas nodded.  
  
"That was where I was going." The mud pile said and then stopped as if she realized that she had spoken  
  
"Dressed like that?" Gimli asked and then fell silent as Legolas clapped a firm hand down on his shoulder. The figure looked down at itself and then looked at Gimli with a glint of challenge in her eye.  
  
"I fell into a stagnant pool, what's your excuse?"  
  
"My excuse? .brghnughg.." Gimli stared towards the stick-covered person in front of him but was stopped by Legolas' hand and the fact that the elf was actually laughing. "But ye didn't have to stay in the pool after you fell in."  
  
"I couldn't find a stream big enough to wash in! ...Yet." The voice rose from its rough pitch and then dropped again as if she was so tired she couldn't bring herself to fight anymore and Gimli stared in amazement. Legolas' clear laugh rang across the open sky and the hot stare was focused on him, apparently there was some fight left he mused to himself.  
  
"You were right laddie, a lass, of all things." Gimli's voice was surprised.  
  
Legolas nodded absently as he felt something approaching, danger, and fast. "Hide!" He spoke and moved swiftly to the edge of the forest, "Come Gimli! Come Lady!" He almost threw Gimli into the dense underbrush as both responded to the rough urgency in his voice, "Into the trees... Now!" Legolas picked up Gimli again making sure he had good hold of a large branch before turning to assist their new twig covered companion, but she was nowhere to be seen, but he could smell her, looking up, Legolas saw her far above his head. Green eyes locked with his.  
  
"Wargs!" She hissed.  
  
"Wargs? Let me down, someone get me down!" Gimli roared and Legolas sighed, the fact that Gimli had done what he'd asked the first time had been a miracle. He helped Gimli swing himself down and they both left the cover of the forest.  
  
"I had seventeen?" Legolas looked down at his smaller friend with an eyebrow quirked.  
  
"Sixteen, and I had twenty." Gimli answered and hefted his axe as the sound of large clawed feet could be heard.  
  
"Twenty? I think you're counting the number of cakes you ate when we found Meriadoc and Peregrin in Saruman's larder." Legolas said quietly and waited.  
  
"Why you...adgahksdgi...hrrrmphh" Gimli's response was what he had expected, but his answering grin was stalled by the appearance of two even more than usually mangy looking Wargs. Since the final battle their kind had roamed the lands of middle earth gradually being hunted and destroyed by all the free races. The arrow he had ready to fire flew into the first and the other came at Gimli with fierce desperation in its eyes, "Arrrrrrrr!" Gimli's axe rose and fell with a solid thunk, "Twenty-one!"  
  
"Twenty..." Legolas spun, as there was a loud crash behind them, a warg screamed but still came towards them with an arrow lodged in its shoulder, he could feel its hot breath his long knife pierced the wargs heart just as another arrow parted its thick pelt and Gimli's axe finished the job. Legolas stood back and looked first at Gimli and then the woman as she emerged from the wood.  
  
"Twenty-two." Gimli puffed  
  
"I think not." Legolas shook his head "I think that's one for a new friend." He looked at the mud and twigs, trying to see what was beneath.  
  
"I suppose we could give it to the lass, nice bow work." Gimli said and held out his hand.  
  
"Thanks. I've been tracking them for days... until they started tracking me." The woman held her hand out and then stopped as she saw the state of it and nodded to Gimli instead. "Nicely done by you both."  
  
"And you, you use a horse bow?" Legolas stepped forward and peered at the bow she held.  
  
"Yes."  
  
"But you have no horse." Legolas heard himself stating the obvious and decided it was best to shut up.  
  
"Not anymore..." The green eyes were shadowed for an instant before being masked with mirth. Legolas nodded his understanding and Gimli grunted.  
  
"I didn't think those wargs looked as hungry as they could have." Gimli said and then looked up as something made a pinging sound against his axe, then another. It was raining, and then it started raining harder. Legolas stood stoically, trying not to laugh as the human log seemed to melt. 


	3. Itchy Ears

Chapter 3. A name  
  
Legolas watched as leaves and twigs fell from the woman's body, Tanaearien's body he reminded himself, he was curious to see how the tiny form he had held in his cupped hands so many years of man ago had grown, no more so than the interest he had in a tree he had watched grow from a tiny acorn he told himself. Beside him, the forest, older even than himself he guessed, rustled and seemed to shift under the weight of the rain, positioning themselves to best take advantage of the moisture. The moisture that was slowly creeping its way under his hair and down his back and it was a little uncomfortable. And it looked like Tanaearien had taken great pains to hide as much of her body as possible, in fact the only part of her he could see was still her eyes.  
  
"Perhaps we should find some shelter." If it were just Gimli and himself he wouldn't have bothered a little voice inside his mind pointed out, in fact Tanae actually seemed to be enjoying it. Her arms were held out wide from her body, her face was turned up and her eyes were closed. Legolas instinctively checked for danger as Gimli shook himself.  
  
"Blasted rain!" Gimli said loudly and then looked at Tanaearien who looked and smelt a lot less like a rotting log, "At least you're getting your bath."  
  
"A bath, now *that* would be something I could happily endure right now, warm water... soap... and towels..." Tanae's voice was dreamy as she spoke, in stark contrast to the pouring rain and the Warg carcasses lying around them. "Lucky you're out here with me." Legolas caught the cheeky glitter in Tanae's eye only a second before Gimli.  
  
"Grufnsk..he he he he!" Gimli chortled and tried to wring some of the rainwater out of his beard. "If you can find a dry place my pointy eared friend I'll occupy it."  
  
"Good point." Legolas looked towards the west and saw blue sky. "It won't be raining for much longer, Arod" Legolas called and the horse ambled over, Legolas scratched the spot on Arod's nose he knew the horse liked and spoke quietly in Elvish. The Horse whickered and then turned and trotted away. "We should move on."  
  
"He says that a lot lass. I never got your name." Gimli smiled at their new companion.  
  
"My name?" Tanaearien looked at Gimli in surprise.  
  
"You do have a name?" Gimli prompted, when she didn't answer straight away Gimli slid at look at Legolas, who looked a lot less perturbed than he should have in Gimli's opinion, in fact he looked like all his arrows had come at once, surprisingly happy and a little mystified and a little scared, if the Elf could look scared Gimli harrumphed. Looked like he'd have to do the investigating, that was no problem he was renown for his subtlety. "Everyone has a name, and before I call you friend I would like to know what it is lass."  
  
"I have a name..." Tanaearien seemed to shrink in on herself and Legolas looked on in concern, he wondered if she ever wondered if she looked like her parents at all. Through the grime the rain hadn't managed to rinse off even he couldn't tell which parent she favored. It was sort of amusing to guess at what was under all that ingrained dirt, for an elf she was very young, as a human he realized she would be considered well past her prime. Legolas admitted he was even more curious, he looked directly at the girl and she shrank a little more, he pondered the feeling he had that she'd spent a lot of time in her short life making herself invisible.  
  
"Mouse." He said softly and by the quick jerk of her head Legolas knew he'd hit on the right name.  
  
"How did you.? You're an Elf." Mouse looked up at him with wide eyes. "You have some sort of mind reading ability?" She asked, a hint of distrust in her voice.  
  
"It seemed like the right name," Legolas said simply, not even considering telling her that she looked more like a drowned rat with rainwater plastering the few greasy strands of hair escaping from under a shapeless knitted hat that dripped onto her nose for a good few seconds before she swiped at it. He briefly considered telling her that he had no sort of 'mind reading' skill but decided it wasn't necessarily something she really needed to know.  
  
An Elf had to keep a few secrets to keep his companions guessing, in pained him to know that in a few short years many of the new friends he had made would be gone... they would die. Die. The word rolled around in his head like a dead weight and he felt the uncertainty that had come into his life with four tiny Hobbits, a Human and a Dwarf. Never before had he considered mortality, and never his own. Life had been precious but never so much as now.  
  
"Mouse eh?" Gimli chuckled and then looked up at his tall friend, Legolas noticed he was being stared at and schooled is face into something resembling interest. "A Dwarf, an Elf and a Mouse who would predict that?"  
  
"Not me Gimli my friend." Legolas said with a small smile, he looked to his right at the tangled 'face' of Fangorn and his excitement grew. He'd almost abandoned the quest of the ring when he'd seen the forest, but the plight of his comrades had drawn him back into the war. Now though he had time to explore. The trees were old, many older than himself, even in their anger there was latent wonder, he felt it, it made his ears tingle..? He turned to see that 'Mouse' had come to stand beside him. One thing was obvious she hadn't inherited her sire's height. Neither had Legolas actually desired to see the grass and twig adorned dripping mass that was the top of Mouse's headgear. "Lets go in."  
  
"You really are going in?" Mouse looked up and Legolas resisted the urge to scratch his ears.  
  
"Yes, you've been in there." He pointed out she looked back at the trees and then at him again, her eyes were becoming shadowed, she looked concerned. "There is no need to fear, I can sense most dangers."  
  
"Oh I'm not afraid for me," Mouse said airily for some reason her tone made Legolas want to grind his teeth as well as scratch his ears, he couldn't remember being that uncomfortable since rinsing the Orc blood off his clothes. He waited, sort of patiently for Mouse to elaborate. "The tree's hardly ever try to harm me, but they don't know you two very well."  
  
Legolas frowned at the trees before looking down with a wide smile, "They know us well enough. For the white wizard showed us a path not to long ago through the wood."  
  
"Oh, ok." Mouse shrugged and slung her bow across her back, the casualness of the gesture doing nothing to disguise the care she put into it. "Do you always talk like that?" Mouse asked and Legolas looked at her blankly, "Nevermind." She was still plainly amused but he couldn't work out why, his method of speech was strange? Compared to what? He dismissed the thought.  
  
A mouse Legolas thought instead, absently scratching at his ear until he caught Gimli staring at him. Trying not to look too guilty he settled the weight of his quiver, sheath and bow more solidly and grinned. "Come Gimli let us explore the forest."  
  
"Ok we'll explore the forest, and if it doesn't eat us we'll be visiting the caves of Helm's Deep next." Gimli seemed to be trying to bolster himself, Legolas his a smile and clapped Gimli on the shoulder, getting a muffled 'oof'. "Damned Pointy ear..."  
  
"Not too soon though Gimli, not too soon." Legolas said dryly and moved light-footedly into the edge of Fangorn  
  
"The caves?" Mouse's light voice was full of curiosity as she moved as quietly as Legolas, something that didn't go unnoticed.  
  
"Yes, the caves they are an awesome sight, untamed, but with a beauty that could steal your heart away in a heartbeat youngling."  
  
Breathing deeply of the close humid air of the forest Legolas let the sound of his two companions voices wash over his senses. Turning he saw his friend the dwarf and his charge from years before laughing as they walked, discussing the finer points of honing an axe, it seemed as they moved through the semi-twilight of the trees that the trees themselves seemed to lose much of their animosity, Legolas noticed after a while that as she walked Mouse would touch each of the trees she passed, lightly caressing their bark, he didn't think that she spoke but the trees were calmed, there was magic in her touch, it seemed Tanaearien was truly a daughter of the forest.  
  
Light were his feet and heart, as Legolas walked the dim paths of Fangorn. 


	4. Lembas

Snoggles for my eldy(.hope you enjoy! Twangs xXXXxxxXXXXXXoOOXOXOxx Thanks to everyone for reviewing.don't stop now!  
  
See chapters 1&2 for the disclaimer  
  
4.Lembas Bread  
  
She looked over at the Elf again, would he...? Yes he did it again! Mouse laughed to herself, every time she looked at the Elf one of his hands would stray to an ear, absently massaging the delicate tip. He was so different to any man she'd ever seen. Gimli, for all he was a dwarf, was a lot more like the men Mouse had spent time around, at least those she could remember, apart from the whole having manners and respect for other living things part Mouse reminded herself as Gimli solicitously offered a mouthful from his water flask. Legolas, the name tripped something in Mouse's short memory, but it was frustratingly out of reach. Legolas was so ... there wasn't really a word that came close to explaining the luminous quality of his face, which in the few times of danger they'd encountered was so fierce it made shivers dance down her spine, at other times when he was speaking with Gimli a smile brought such warmth to his face it made Mouse stare.  
  
She wouldn't mind having that smile graced upon her she thought, and then stuffed the thought like a stray sock out of sight. Looking around at where they were walking She realized they were almost at the edge of the forest. Legolas was walking a little more slowly and Gimli was speeding up, so for the first time Mouse found herself walking beside Legolas. The silence stretched. Mouse rubbed self-consciously at a new smudge of dirt on her nose, a sideways glance at Legolas confirmed that he was, as always, looking pristine. Anyone else walking through Fangorn Forest would be coming out the other side of the deep shadows and leaf littered paths as dirty as she and Gimli were. Even the trees looked dirty.  
  
Looking upwards into the canopy Mouse watched as the trees swayed, their leaves touching and rustling, communicating silently with each other. The trees could talk, but they didn't always need to. The dappled greens and flashes of silver were mesmerizing.  
  
"Watch... Out!" Mouse found her nose pressed up against a warm chest, the falling sensation she'd momentarily experienced, due to a large root across her path, vanished. She looked up and found herself pinned by clear sky blue. His eyes were rather pretty... "Are you alright?" Mouse realized Legolas was starting to look a little concerned and stepped back out of his strong feeling arms, only to find herself back in them almost instantly. So the root was behind her now, Mouse realized a little too late. This time Legolas picked her up like a small child's toy and placed her gently back on the path Gimli had forged a few moments earlier, she could hear him talking excitedly about nearing the caves while she and Legolas tried hard not to look at each other; even so Mouse noted he was playing with his ear- tip again, it was an endearing little habit that made him just human enough for Mouse not to be completely over-awed "Perhaps looking where you are walking would be a little safer."  
  
Mouse felt her temper rise until she looked up and saw the teasing light in Legolas' eyes. Despite herself she laughed.  
  
"Thank you."  
  
"It was... my pleasure," Legolas responded and Mouse had something else to think about when she realized he hadn't meant to say exactly that. They walked slowly, the soft leaf litter masking any noise they might have made. "Mouse?"  
  
"Yes?" Mouse concentrated on putting one foot in front of the other, noting with a small grimace that her shoe was worn thin on the scuffed toe, what would Barath do if he caught her with shoes in that condition...?  
  
"Are you not stopping to eat and rest with myself and Gimli?" Legolas' voice was gently teasing and Gimli chortled. "We have lembas bread." His smile made her look away quickly; there was an uneasy feeling in the pit of her stomach again, plus the disconcerting feeling of memories prickling in the back of her mind.  
  
Lembas bread, even though it kept her stomach full and her limbs moving Mouse was tired of lembas to the point of wondering if the bark on the trees would have a more interesting taste. There was a challenge in Legolas' eyes when he held some out. Mouse gave him a tight grin and then sat down on a handy rock to eat, not that it took long to eat the tiny square.  
  
"This is not food." Gimli said for maybe the hundredth time, it was like habit for him to say it now, "If we were back in my home we would be feasting on whole pig roasted over open flame and served with roasted potatoes and carrots." Gimli mumbled through his lembas. Mouse tried to hide the grumble in her stomach; Legolas looked up and caught her glance. It was impossible for her to keep the small guffaw of laughter in, and it quickly turned into and all out laugh as Gimli looked up in surprise.  
  
It was too funny, The Elf and the Dwarf: it was like some pub tale Camdin had been fond recounting. It usually ended with the dwarf riding the elf back to his mine. Mouse realized tears were rolling down her face and swiped at them before taking a calm nibble of bread and a sip of water. She choked as she laughed again. Both Legolas and Gimli got up to pat her back. "Enough. thanks!" Mouse coughed and then sat back and listened as Gimli told another tale about his home. Mouse listened with interest.  
  
".and *that* is why I don't particularly like limestone." Gimli finished and then looked at Legolas.  
  
"I have no voice for singing tonight," Legolas said softly, and Mouse reasoned that Gimli probably looked just as downcast as she felt, Legolas had a lovely voice and even though he said his translations into the Westron speech were more than a little rough his songs were hauntingly beautiful. To mouse they always sounded a little bit on the sad side, except for the ones she could tell he was censoring. "What about you mouse, do you have a song for us?"  
  
Mouse looked directly at Legolas for the first time since tripping over, his finger twitched and she bit back a chuckle, but the question made her fumble for words, "I uh, don't sing, at least I don't know any songs that would be... appropriate."  
  
"Nothing that would be appropriate?" Gimli looked at her closely, Mouse ducked her head and tried to think of something to say when he asked, "Just where did ye learn to sing then lass?"  
  
She could feel Legolas' piercing blue eyes on her, it was an uncomfortable feeling, she was used to being invisible, definitely not the centre of attention. "Our local pub," Mouse said quietly and was rewarded with a stunned silence. "The other stable hands and I used to sneak in the back to get warm and hear the story telling and singing." The truth was that Mouse had usually been the only one sneaking in to listen the other boys had been more interested in the ale on offer. With a slight shift of her shoulders Mouse remembered why she'd finally left the small town. The constant riding and walking of the past few weeks hadn't allowed the welts on her back to heal completely, every so often she would feel a catch on the inside of her rough tunic. The pain was nothing; even the beating itself had been milder than some she'd received, for some imagined trespass or a rule broken. She healed well generally.  
  
She looked up and found two pairs of intelligent eyes were watching her. "Well, unless you want to hear the one about the dwarf and the elf."  
  
"Dwarf?" Gimli said in surprise  
  
"Elf?" Legolas' voice was no less intrigued, and mouse felt her face redden as his clear gaze was firmly trained on her face again. "Now you have to sing it, tell me does the dwarf snore so loudly in his sleep that there's never any need to post sentry?"  
  
"Or does the Elf say more than three words at a time?" Gimli shot back and the two gave each other mock glares.  
  
"Ah no, well maybe... ok... its well don't blame me, you asked for it, this is 'The Falling Elf' Mouse cleared her throat nervously; she took a deep breath and sang softly. The song started out fairly simply:  
  
"There once was an elf who drank like a fish, a gallon of wine a casket of rum, as one would expect this caused him to list"  
  
He weaved and he wove and oftentimes dove, you wouldn't have thought his was on a flat road"  
  
Some say he was cursed or that it was magic or maybe poor sight, that found our fair elf with a dwarf for a wife,  
  
. "'It wasn't her height and it wasn't the stink, it were my wife's whiskers that drove me to drink'"  
  
I really must say that my hearts never been gladder, than knowing it's not me who'll be living forever!" Mouse finished the song and bowed hammily at her two companions, using it as a good excuse not to see exactly what their reactions were.  
  
"Bwahahahahaahaaaa" Gimli chuckled loudly, and smacked Legolas hard on the back, "Now that was a song!"  
  
"Hmm." Legolas looked us and Mouse let go of the breath she hadn't realized she'd been holding when he laughed.  
  
"I suppose ye'd have to consider fairy carefully if you'd want to live with someone for eternity," Gimli laughed again. "My friend here is definitely taking his time."  
  
Mouse watched as Legolas stared at Gimli for a second before shrugging ruefully. "Gimli you sounded much like my father just now, it disturbs me, please don't do it again." His light laugh made Mouse want to rub her arms as a tingle across her skin made her shiver. Gimli was laughing as he drank from his water skin.  
  
"Will we see the caves today do you think?" Mouse asked and accepted the skin from Gimli with a smile.  
  
"We have at least four more days walking outside the forest, under the blue sky and in the fair wind," Legolas answered  
  
"You'd think he didn't like it in here eh?" Gimli prodded Mouse with his elbow, and she barely managed to keep upright.  
  
"Its what lies ahead that's making me look forward to the sky," Legolas said softly and Mouse chuckled. She looked in the direction they'd been heading before their stop and wondered if she'd find the answers to her questions soon. 


	5. Nice Wine

See chapters 1&2 for disclaimer  
  
Thanks for reading, keep reviewing:)  
  
5. Nice Wine  
  
"Its unusually hot for this time of year." Gimli said with a grimace as he took the helm off his head and Legolas looked on in mild, if not evident, astonishment as a stream of what only could be Gimli's perspiration ran out of it. Even he was feeling a little warm Legolas thought as he looked ahead to where Mouse was skipping through the long grass, plucking hardy little pink wildflowers, and other plants every couple of steps. Her bright laughter had rung out all through the long late spring afternoon.  
  
He idly scratched at the pointed tip of an ear as he considered the few facts Mouse had let slip or mentioned since joining them. She had been working in a stable, but he didn't know why she'd left. She could use a bow, but it was a horse bow and even though she'd said she'd had a horse, they hadn't seen it. He knew she was half-Elvinand even so she seemed to fall over her feet a lot. She liked bawdy songs, which made him smile. And she never, ever took off the headscarf that was wrapped tightly around her head.  
  
Where had she been the last 50 years?  
  
"Is it Lembas time?" Legolas heard Mouse's almost mournful questioning of Gimli who grunted sympathetically, even Legolas was getting a little jaded about the way-bread. He thought absently about some fresh greens and fruits. He blinked as he took another look at Gimli. The Dwarf had wildflowers woven into his beard and in his thick braids.  
  
"That's very...attractive." He smiled and Gimli blushed  
  
"Thank you lad. Mouse my lass, I think Legolas' hair could do with a little decoration as well, we wouldn't want him to feel left out."  
  
"I don't..." Legolas started to back away and then rolled his eyes at the two challenging pair of eyes that watched him, "Alright." He acquiesced, thinking that neither of them would have asked if they knew anything about Elvish courship traditions, the three of them would be half way to betrothal if they weren't careful he thought in amusement.  
  
"Sit!" Mouse ordered, Legolas didn't notice her charmed smile as he played with the tip of his left ear.  
  
"Not too many of the orange ones, there not my colour."  
  
"Not your colour?" Mouse giggled as she sat behind Legolas on small boulder started carefully weaving the delicate stems of some small nameless pure white wildflower into his hair, threading them through his complex braids. Legolas felt his body and mind relax, the rhythmic tug and smooth of Mouse's ministrations calming his thoughts as well, he thought fondly of his new home, and then his old home and his father. His thoughts drifted, touching lightly on the mystery of Mouse's actual existence and her mother and father.  
  
He had at the time considered seeking out her family, but had reasoned that Halwyn had told him specifically to meet someone where the Ent had appeared, and his promise had only extended to making sure she was taken to Fangorn. Fifty years of man in the last age had been swift and filled with dire evil and danger and after finding that Luinëros had indeed left Erebor to seek the havens there was little that he could do, his father, angered a little by Legolas returning without a wife had kept him busy, one patrol after another, until he'd been glad to leave to go to Imladris once more, and from there to join the Fellowship. He had friends now he could never had imagined having previously, and the obvious contentment and love that was apparent when around King Elessar and Arwen had for the first time made Legolas contemplate his own future.  
  
"Hey Legless are you going to feed us?" Mouse asked brightly from her perch on the handy boulder.  
  
"Did you just call me 'Legless'?" Legolas looked at Mouse with an outraged expression, no one had dared to call him Legless for a very, very long time.  
  
"It was just my accent." Mouse said airily, and hid a smile.  
  
"Accent...ha!" Gimli chuckled and then laughed outright. Legolas looked down at his friend with one eyebrow arched menacingly and Gimli swallowed, somewhat unsuccessfully, his next chuckle. "Well she does have a wee smidgeon of an accent."  
  
"Yes where does that come from?" Legolas asked mildly, he was actually holding his breath but managed to look casually interested. Mouse's eyes widened slightly and she took a small breath before answering.  
  
"Calembel."  
  
"Calembel?" Gimli voiced Legolas's surprise; the large town was in the southwest of Gondor, a not long way from where they were now. The yearly visits he and Gimli had made in the last three years to Fangorn and The Glittering Caves often found them exploring beyond their original route. He remembered Calembel well, "Nice wine." He murmured as he remembered.  
  
. . He and Gimli had been sharing a drink in a local tavern with one of Faramir's many distant relations, Aladain, and the talk had moved on from the host of the Dead, who had been their companions the last time they had stopped in Calembel before the final Battle, to their journey tomorrow.  
  
"So you're going to Edoras?" Alain asked, his words slightly slurred. The man's hand came down heavily on Legolas' shoulder and he steeled himself not to move away. That distraction is what he'd blamed not noticing what happened next. Highly uncomfortable with the invasion of his personal space Legolas concentrated on what Aladain was saying about the path they would take westward the next day, maybe if he tried hard enough Aladain would let go he thought, at least lean away, at least. He reminded himself that humans were fond of physical contact. At times he could be too, but not with this rowdy, and drunk, group of fighting men.  
  
Realising Aladain was just repeating himself Legolas concentrated on listening to the three musician's tucked into a tight dark corner of the tavern. The song had echoes, as did many, of some of the old songs of his people. Old words mixed with new as he followed the complex melody line an old man was playing on his obviously well loved stringed instrument. All around the musicians' people sang or tapped their hands or feet. Small children and adolescents hid in shadows and scuttled around preying on discarded tankards and plates. It was happening even before he could react.  
  
There was a loud yell and one of the larger adolescent boys pushed a smaller youth into the table, knocking into Aladain and into Legolas. The resulting scuffle found Gimli and Legolas off to one side of the tavern while jugs and tankards flew around the room with similar regularity to the flying fists.  
  
"Nice wine." Legolas commented just loudly enough for Gimli to hear him above the melee. His friend gave him a large smile before swatting a flying plate out of the air with his axe before it could make contact with Legolas' chest. "Thanks." He caught a mug before it smashed into Gimli's head. With a quick look at Gimli, he threw it back, making his small friend almost double over with laughter. Five minutes later and there was a fan of unconscious men around them and Gimli prodded one with his foot.  
  
"Perhaps it's time we left?" Gimli suggested and Legolas started to nod when a large body cannoned into them. Gimli's snort of displeasure didn't auger well for the man who'd apparently managed to keep his mug full of ale up until that moment. Now the sour foaming stuff dripped down Gimli's helm and into his already soaked beard. The loud growl Gimli produced stopped all other noise and motion in the tavern, except for a small body quickly disappearing through the back door Legolas noticed with a small ripple of amusement.  
  
"We should leave, we have a long ride tomorrow." He said blandly and the only response from the room was Aladain's grunt as he held a much larger man in a headlock, the sound of a plate falling into shards and the steady drip of spilled beverages.  
  
"Nothing like a brawl to settle a body down for the night." Gimli said drily as they settled down to rest in their comfortable lodgings. Legolas's small chuckle was muffled by a loud crash from an alleyway across the cobbled road from their inn.  
  
".You'll give it to me alright or I'll beat you so well this time you'll never try and stiff me again!" A gravelly voice was raised and Legolas' keen ears picked up the sound of something that sounded like a whip.  
  
"No." The other voice was quiet, and something trickled down in the back of Legolas' memory like a quicksilver flash. He sat up slowly from his bed and walked to the window, looking out at the cobbled street below his eyes sought what couldn't be seen.  
  
"I told you." The lower voice turned cold and there was another loud crash and then a hiss of pain. "I won't kill you, someone will pay for you even if I ruin your face... argh!" Legolas' hand stopped the arm as it fell to strike another blow on the small body trapped between two large crates full of garbage.  
  
"You must stop this." Legolas said quietly.  
  
"You son of a bilge whore, by the Eye who do you think you are? That's my slave and I'll do what I want." The tall thin and wiry man snarled as he tried to free himself.  
  
"Go. But wait for me across the street." Legolas said calmly to the frozen figure as it crouched defensively. They didn't hesitate. Legolas heard light footsteps retreating down the street and then turned back to the man who's threats were growing ever more frantic and implausible. "The last I heard your King had outlawed slavery."  
  
"*My* King" the man spat and Legolas just managed to dodge, "He doesn't give a rats ass what goes on down here, with him up there in that fancy city. Who're you that you love this King enough to risk your life fer 'im." The derision in the man's words made Legolas a little annoyed, so he dragged the man out into the street, making sure there was enough light from a lamp for the human man to see Legolas stared at him, watching as the unshaven and unattractive face paled. "You're that Elf that's visitin' with his Lordship."  
  
"And the King's emissary. What was that you were saying about a slave?" Legolas' face was harsh in the flickering light.  
  
"Slave? I didn't say slave, I don't see no slave." The man's thin crafty face split into a nasty grin and his voice rose as they both looked around the rapidly filling street. "I'm an honest businessman, trying to earn my keep and here I am detained...by of all things an Elf." The man spat the word out. And Legolas barely held back a snarl.  
  
"Guards!" Legolas didn't let any of his anger seep into his voice as he called to the town guard, who had been hanging back, obviously unsure of what to do when presented with an Elf, who was a personal friend of the King, holding a man who seemed well known.  
  
"That will teach you to go whoring when there's pretty lads about Keldo!" a snickering voice yelled from the crowd.  
  
"How was I to know?" Keldo shrugged and then waved his free hand at Legolas, "All that blonde hair and blue eyes, a man could easily get confused in the dark."  
  
"I'd have him! In the adrk or out've it Are you busy later love?" A woman's nasal voice asked from the crowd. Legolas bit down on his anger again and smiled.  
  
"I'm afraid not m'lady, perhaps another time. This man was attacking, perhaps trying, very unsuccessfully to rob someone." This got him a general laugh and he let go of Keldo's arm when the two young men of the town guard took an arm each. The crowd cheered and Keldo sneered before leant quickly back towards Legolas and spoke so softly only Legolas could have heard it.  
  
"You stupid pointy eared fool, don't you know that that rat you rescued has your purse and that poncey brooch you were wearin', now you'll never see it, because, slaves don't exist here! I'll hunt you down and make you pay for this be certain of that Elf." Keldo sniffed one more time before letting himself be led away. The crowd parted with alacrity when Legolas stepped forward and headed for his lodgings. As he reached the front door he hadn't used when leaping from the first story window earlier, Gimli's grunt said more than he could have with a lot of words.  
  
"I tried to stop the other one but the little scamp obviously has all the escape routes of this place well in hand." Gimli muttered as they settled back down to rest, turning over on his cot he looked at his tall friend and asked. "What did that thief say to you before he let them lead him away. Idle threats?"  
  
"Of sorts." Legolas answered softly and then sighed silently. Keldo had been right; as soon as he'd said it he'd known it was true. The person he'd 'saved' had been the same one who'd bumped into him in the tavern and crawled out the back door later. The gold mattered very little to him, but the brooch... with a heavy heart Legolas rested for the first time knowing he was wasn't wearing the fellowship brooch from Lothlorien.  
  
The next day Aladain had promised to scour the town for it but Legolas had shaken his head and left. With Gimli and his quiver at his back he'd urged Arod towards Fangorn.  
  
.  
  
The memory was sharp, she'd followed them that day, thinking back he'd known it already, but hadn't allowed it to shadow his thoughts, Legolas looked down at the grass at his feet before looking up at Mouse and smiling, hoping his eyes didn't reveal what he knew. "You don't happen to be hiding any of Calembel wine under all those clothes do you? Someone comes..." The sound of approaching horses made Legolas turn and a broad smile brightened his face as the horses were brought to a stop.  
  
"Legolas!" A bright voice exclaimed, "And Gimli! Fancy Meeting you here." 


	6. rush

'The sky is darkening like a stain Something is going to fall like rain  
  
And it won't be flowers"  
  
W.H. Auden - The Two  
  
Chapter 6. Rush  
  
"...So we were having a quiet afternoon collecting carrots and..."  
  
"It wasn't exactly 'collecting' Pip," Merry interrupted his curly haired friend, giving Mouse a conspiratorial wink. The Hobbits jostled each other companionably, then started digging into their packs; Pippin let out a large sigh as he unearthed a long-stemmed pipe and a bag of what Mouse correctly guessed was pipe weed.  
  
"Well, borrowing then. So a quiet afternoon borrowing carrots and cabbages became a quest to destroy the Ring. It was very alarming..." Pippin said, making large eyes at Mouse and then smiled at Gimli's loud grunt. "And exciting," Merry added, "we all almost died." He gave a theatrical little shiver and then got down to the business of lighting his own pipe. He silently offered Mouse another Pipe but she shook her head with a sheepish smile. She looked across at Legolas who mimicked drinking wine. 'Come to think of it, a little wine would have been pleasant', she thought and then remembered to look suitably awed as she swallowed a laugh and looked across at the hobbits from the log she was sitting on. "Almost died," Mouse repeated, *and* managed to look suitably awed, the two hobbits had joined them a day ago. Their ponies had made traveling a lot quicker; with Mouse and Gimli riding with each of the Hobbits and Legolas running along side. Their bright conversation was just as welcome to Mouse as was their additional food, including robust bread rolls and fruit.  
  
"I remember Legolas, Aragorn and myself doing a lot of running," Gimli grumbled and then clapped Merry companionably on the arm. "At least you didn't have Orcs threatening to make a meal of you," Merry replied. He waved his pipe around expressively, managing to convey a hoard of orcs with a sweep of the clay bowl. "But thanks for that anyway." he chuckled. Although he was laughing, Mouse could see he was genuinely thankful for Gimli and Legolas' attempt at rescuing them. The story was almost unbelievable, but it made more sense as she observed, for lack of a better description, the love that bound the men together.  
  
"You wouldn't have been very appetizing; by then you overly large hobbits would have been getting stringy from all the walking," Legolas said quietly. Mouse was the first to laugh, almost as much at the stunned expressions on the hobbits faces as the dry humor Legolas had been revealing more and more of as they went along. The hobbits' arrival had seemed to relax the elf a little, Mouse noticed. He scratched at his ears a lot less often, but then again maybe she hadn't been watching him as much. Her eyes had been on the tall mountains to their right and frequently she'd had trouble walking as she laughed at something the hobbits had said. When she did look at Legolas, it was just because she wasn't looking at where she was going, Mouse reasoned.  
  
The landscape had changed to gently rolling hills; some were burned yellow by the heat of the sun and in some deep valleys, green still held sway. The dark blue of the Misty Mountains rose majestically towards the pale blue sky. At dusk the dry grass turned gold and the sunset flared fierily off the exposed rock and the many sheer cliffs. Mouse turned to see the sun starting to wane and so the small company stopped to make camp next to a small stream that seemed to meander aimlessly between low hillocks.  
  
"I have some tomatoes!" Pippin announced suddenly and they all looked at him. His small face turned a little red and he shrugged, "I forgot I was carrying them, they're a might squashed but they'll be good with some bacon." "Hmm crispy bacon," Merry said and smiled as he rustled around for a pot. "You know I wish Sam were here, I'd never tell him, but his cooking is exquisite."  
  
"Oh really? 'Exquisite' Merry?" Pippin asked facetiously and his friend shared his grin. "I think you've been spending too much time in court. Not enough time in the Shire."  
  
"Maybe, but you have to agree that Sam's cooking is some of the best, plus he always had those smashin' pots and pans stashed away in his bag."  
  
"Oh yes, you know one day you should visit the Shire Mouse, we have the most beautiful trees and fields, and these little rivers..." Pippin spoke earnestly, his eyes and voiced filled with memories and Mouse could almost see lush fields filled with small happily people working the earth and just feeling at home, like they belonged. "It sounds beautiful," she said softly.  
  
"It sounds fantastic," Gimli agreed, "In fact one of my relatives..."  
  
Mouse missed the rest of Gimli's story, luckily it was one she'd heard before, because she felt Legolas' intent stare. Taking a deep breath she looked up, wondering when it had become so hard to look at him. He was toying with the tip of his right ear, but stopped when she looked directly at him. He quickly masked his expression but Mouse was pretty sure what she'd seen was surprise, recognition and most disturbing of all: fear. He gave her a bright smile and then looked down at his bow, checking for some non-existent imperfection. Fear?  
  
Mouse looked away when Merry called for her preferences when it came to bacon. She felt rather than saw Legolas get up and walk over to the top of a small rise. Once again she was hit by how beautiful he was, his long blonde hair moving gently in the slight breeze, his face burnished to pale bronze by the fading sunlight, and his lithe strong body; the memory of him plucking her off the path in Fangorn made her remember just how warm and hard his body had been.  
  
It was a little disturbing Mouse realized, just how much she'd been thinking about him, and touching him, running her hands through his hair, smoothing the odd little frown from his forehead that he seemed to get when she caught him watching her. Disturbing because she'd never once had her heart race like that before, except when she'd been running from someone. She'd been scared enough to get sweaty palms like that a few times as well, but he didn't really scare her, not like that at least; she wouldn't really want to get close to something that scared her, would she? In fact she'd never even thought about any male in the way she was thinking about Legolas. Mouse crossed her arms over her chest and leaned in closer to the fire.  
  
^..^ ^..^ ^..^ ^..^ ^..^ ^..^ ^..^ ^..^ ^..^ ^..^ ^..^ ^..^ ^..^ ^..^  
  
Legolas watched Mouse out of the corner of his eye, seeing the way she hugged herself tightly. She looked so alone even laughing at the Hobbits stories and jokes; she was still holding herself slightly apart from them all. He didn't blame her really, she had so many secrets, a few of which he was sure even she didn't know she had. They had reached the caves, but decided to take rest before going any further. The smallish cave he and Gimli had discovered three years ago had a small mouth that opened out onto a small ledge that overlooked the plains. Legolas took one last look around at the darkness outside the lip of the cave and focused on a large silent owl tracking prey so small even he had trouble seeing it. He looked up at the bright stars as he realized what it was. A mouse. Taking a deep breath he turned back to the fire and walked over to sit next to Mouse, sitting close enough but not so close that he would scare her.  
  
"I think that perhaps Merry and Pippin would enjoy your Fallen Elf song Mouse," he said and nudged her with a gentle elbow. Her eyes slowly focused on him and he wondered what she'd been thinking about to bring the slight flush to her cheeks. She flinched slightly as he lifted his hand and brushed her cheek. "You had ash," he explained as he let his hand fall back to the log they were sitting on. He knew he should look away as Mouse's eyes started to turn a little smoky but he didn't.  
  
"Fallen Elf?" Merry asked, breaking the spell, his bright eyes shining at them from across the fire as they both looked over, "I think I know that one. Does it go..." Merry started singing and Pippin joined in. The words were similar but different, enough to have Mouse giggling.  
  
When the song had ended, Pippin started telling another story. Legolas kept half an ear on the story and the other on the caves around them; something was stirring, but not close by and he couldn't tell whether it was a danger to them or not. He was surprised to feel something drop heavily onto his shoulder. Looking down he saw that Mouse had fallen asleep, her head was resting precariously on the edge of his shoulder, at least it was until she shifted slightly and her nose pressed into his neck. The others were still talking quietly and smoking their pipes, apparently unaware of Mouse and Legolas' silence until Merry caught his eye and winked. Anyone one else would have thought it was a casual gesture but Legolas carefully stood and picked Mouse up in arms, noting how little she weighed again; her thinness was a concern, but it could be rectified, eventually. For now it seemed there was business to take care of and he wondered which King it was who had sent the Hobbits out to find them.  
  
He used his own cloak to wrap her in and cushioned her head on her bag. It was tempting to take the opportunity to remove her headgear to see what exactly was under there, but he didn't even though his fingers were itching as much as his ears. He knew he shouldn't, for many reasons, not the least that she was a child, a stranger and a thief, but he gently ran his finger down her cheek, whispering, "Nae saian luume' Cormamin lindua ele lle. Quel kaima."  
  
Mouse made a small noise and smiled before rolling over, deeper into the cloak and into sleep. Legolas took one more look over his shoulder as he walked to the cave mouth; she was so small in the flickering light of the fire. Once again something small was about to change his life forever. He'd known it fifty years ago, now he just wanted it to hurry up, or maybe he wanted it not to happen, maybe he wished he'd be able to control what was about to happen, maybe he didn't really know what he wanted, which was disturbing for an elf who'd been alive for around three thousand years. Then he realized suddenly what Aragorn had meant once when he'd called him "sheltered".  
  
Legolas was already frowning as he faced his friends, but he stopped fidgeting with his abused ear-tip as the Hobbits started to speak.  
  
"Aragorn wanted us to catch you before you got to Edoras." Legolas felt a strange sense of foreboding as Merry carefully snuffed his pipe and knocked it out on the rocks. The deliberate movements of the usually bright hobbit added gravity to what he was about to reveal. Even Pippin was looking subdued. "It seems one of Eomer's cousins has gone missing."  
  
"One of his prettier, just about to be betrothed cousins." Pippin added with a swift lift of his eyebrows, but he settled back down when Merry gave him a sideways glance. Legolas felt a small smile as he watched his small young friends; they were so different from when they'd first met as strangers in Rivendell. Danger and sadness had left its mark, but a conversation with Merry never seemed quite complete without Pippin and vice versa though.  
  
"Just about to be betrothed?" Legolas asked, the human custom of betrothal was a little alien to him, and also a little repulsive, the way parents and relatives colluded to make a 'Best Match' for their children, with seemingly little input from their children. The thought of his father actually choosing and presenting him with a life-mate was almost obscene. "To Eomer?"  
  
"Eomer?" Pippin laughed heartily and then looked over at Mouse's still form before shaking his head and lowering his voice. "No, I think he's finding the constant stream of beautiful and intelligent women Eowyn keeps sending to visit a bit of a deterrent, who was that last one, with the brown hair who kept bumping into walls because her nose was constantly in a book Merry?"  
  
"That was Reega, but shut up Pip, I'm trying to pass on the message."  
  
"Sorry."  
  
"Nose in a book you say?" Gimli murmured and Pippin shot him a grateful grin. "But what of this 'Almost betrothed' young lady Master Meriadoc?"  
  
"Well her mother went to wake her to go shopping, for dresses dowry, things, found her bed empty."  
  
"Better than overfull eh?" Gimli nudged Legolas who raised a considering eyebrow before looking back at Merry. The hobbit was getting a little hot under the collar, as Sam would say. Sadly Legolas had an idea where this was leading, and it didn't bode well.  
  
"She did not wish to be betrothed?" He asked what Merry was obviously expecting.  
  
"That's the thing these two were a love match. They'd been mooning over each other for so long that their parents realized there was nothing to do about it but marry them off, thankfully to each other." Merry made a face, and Legolas remembered how cloyingly annoying a love struck pair could be, luckily for humans it usually didn't last for centuries. "When she still hadn't returned by sundown a search was ordered, and still we couldn't find her. A couple of the street urchins started offering information for coin and their information turned out to be fairly accurate.  
  
"After a bit of cajoling," at Merry's expression Legolas guessed that Eomer's cajoling involved the use of his fists, "One of the tavern owners near the gate 'remembered' a group of men, strangers, who'd been staying in his best rooms for a week. Foreigners he called them, but their gold was good, even if it was unstamped."  
  
"Unstamped gold?" Gimli asked, and he looked affronted, "That's no way to treat gold coin."  
  
"But it's a good way of hiding where you've been isn't it?" Pippin asked.  
  
"That it is." Legolas said slowly, his mind was on the small form behind them in the cave and the altercation in Calembel with Keldo. "So what was The Elessar's message?"  
  
"Well he gave us this, and said to tread like sunlight on fallen leaves, if that means anything." Pippin said with a shrug as he handed Legolas a small tightly wound scroll. "Funny thing is the innkeeper said something about the men sounding like Rangers. Made me think of the first time we met Strider it did." Legolas moved back out of the cloud of pipeweed smoke and carefully broke the seal.  
  
Rangers. Legolas' sense of foreboding deepened and he looked at the scroll in held loosely in his hand blindly. Around him the sounds and scents of the night were drawing in, there was the sense that the world was switching from night to morning, with the sun seemingly just out of sight. Hours earlier Merry, Gimli and Pippin had rolled themselves into their cloaks and drifted to sleep; Gimli having given Legolas the unnecessary advice of keeping his eyes open first. His mind drifted, thinking back to a time when his greatest concern had been how to keep a troop of Orcs out of his part of the forest, now he had a delicate diplomatic, which had never been one of his strong suits anyway, mission of sorts with a man whose volatile nature was both completely different and too similar to his own to make the conversation they had to have in any way less uncomfortable than it was going to be.  
  
A gang of Rangers kidnapping a young woman from Edoras? The implausibility of a "group" of Rangers normally would have made Legolas dismiss any such rumour, but apparently Aragorn had been hearing similar reports from across his kingdom and beyond. Legolas focused on the neatly written Elvish words again,  
  
'I ask of you my friend, even though I have no right or favor that I could redeem for this, so I ask humbly for your assistance. I have outline briefly the matter that concerns me, but I feel I need to speak with you in all haste. But first I need for you and your companions to make your stop at Edoras to find out what you can from Lord Eomer and then make your way here with what news and tidings he has. Thank you my friend, I look forward to seeing you again, as does my wife, who requests that you be nice to your mouse. I must say that I'm surprised you have gotten yourself a pet, isn't the dwarf enough? Nay, give my regards to our stalwart friend and tell the hobbits to save me some of their pipe weed. Until next we meet May thy paths be green and the breeze on thy back.'  
  
Smiling at the last old phrase Legolas carefully wound the scroll and tucked it into a hidden pocket of his jerkin. So Arwen knew already, he wasn't surprised his antics of the night before would have alerted anyone 'looking' his way, as no doubt Aragorn had asked her to do, to the fact that Mouse had been his focus of attention. Looking out he could see the faintest hint of light lighting the sky. Soon he'd have to wake the hobbits up, and the loudly snoring Gimli, who wasn't going to be pleased when he found out their trip through the glittering caves, was to be curtailed.  
  
"Isn't it beautiful?" Mouse's soft voice made Legolas turn, and he had to admit she was right. The pale sunlight made her skin glow like distant stars. He felt a surge of the quicksilver in his veins before he dampened it down and gave her a small smile.  
  
"Daybreak men call it, like the sun has broken the darkness with her light." He said quietly, trying hard to keep the stillness within himself still. She looked even younger with sleep still softening her face, but the strange light of the pre dawn also shadowed her face to give him a glimpse of what she would look like far into the future. She would be beautiful.  
  
"You think?" Mouse tilted her head to look up at Legolas as she settled herself beside him on the ledge.  
  
"I think what..?" Legolas asked slowly, pulling himself out of his thoughts.  
  
"That the sun breaks the sky?" Mouse looked up at him and Legolas gave into the urge to push the wrappings on her head back a fraction, he noticed Mouse start to flinch before her eyes cleared and she made no further move to retreat. Her clear green eyes watched him closely and Legolas knew he should stop, that he should withdraw. His fingertip traced the arch of her eyebrow and he absorbed the way her eyelids drifted shut. He wondered, as his fingertip brushed gently across the delicate skin of her cheek, if she knew anything about Elves. The latent invitation of his being, the mortals he knew described it as both his body and soul, was something he could normally control, and now would have to control if he didn't want to give her a rude awakening to the world of Elf sex.  
  
A certain uncomfortable conversation with his father sprung to his mind, a conversation that had been almost wholly unnecessary for the youngest of five males, except for the part that didn't involve the mechanics of the act. He could hear his father speak the words even now.  
  
"You will find yourself drawn to someone, a potential..." his normally eloquent father had seemed lost for words for a moment and a much younger Legolas had felt a sense of relief common to many who had escaped from something of a similarly uncomfortable nature, that was until Thranduil continued. "Well I'm sure my son that your brothers have covered the actual act itself, but there is more."  
  
"More?" Legolas had felt his heart sink.  
  
"Yes. You are young, no more than seventy in the years of men," With a small sigh his father ran his hand across Legolas' hair in a way he hadn't done for many years. "You can feel the heat inside you? That which keeps you warm, which in future will keep you hale and well with your heart. It is this that you will need to consider when you decide to find your mate. Much as you can feel your world with your keen senses, so too can you be felt. If you focus your attentions on one being they will feel your intention, and react to it. Like an animal that will know of your approach no matter how silent you are. An Elf-maid will feel and respond, whether she'll run or stay to be caught is another matter and her choice. But always consider, that until a maid passes fully through to her adulthood, she will not know what it is you offer, her body will respond and her mind will be clouded by it, but it is your responsibility to not take advantage of it."  
  
"So you are saying stay away from Nimwys?" even Legolas heard the petulance in his own voice. The young elf-maid was one of a very few who was close to his own age, with long golden hair and eyes like sapphires, but she was still in the midst of a turbulent pass to adulthood. At times still like a child and at others she seemed as grown up as his aunts. It was a little bit embarrassing to think his father was aware of their experimentation. But when you could hear another's thoughts and when they forgot to shield themselves it wasn't hard to eavesdrop.  
  
"No, my young son, I'm saying wait. There is no rush."  
  
"There is no rush." Legolas watched as his unplanned whisper reached Mouse's ears and she slowly opened her eyes.  
  
"No rush?" Mouse repeated, sounding a little dazed, and looking even more so. Her lips looked soft and her breathing was slow; a reaction to Legolas' presence he knew. He scanned her face, storing away the image of sunlight glowing through her lashes and painting her cheek. He chose not to think about why, down that slippery slope lay danger, not for him, but for the young woman who was perilously close to kissing him.  
  
"Yes, no rush for breakfast for me, tell the others I will be back in less than an hour." Legolas ran his finger down the slope of Mouse's nose and she blinked, he knew the spell was broken when she started looking at him, the green of her eyes slightly clouded in confusion as he put some distance between them by getting up and walking towards the back of the cave, "accidentally" jostling the hobbits and Gimli awake with an unnecessarily circuitous route to the opening to the rest of the caves. Stepping into the darkness beyond he stopped and took a deep breath, and then another. "There is no rush." He repeated softly to himself and then went to scout ahead.  
  
*"(It has been too long) (My heart sings to see thee). (Sleep well)" 


	7. It's Rude To Stare

See Chapters 1&2 for DISCLAIMER  
  
Thanks heaps everyone for reviewing, I know its taking a long time to get anywhere, but hey I don't have much say in this story really, except to undress Legolas every so often :)  
  
7. Its Rude To Stare  
  
Mouse watched as the sun crept across the sea of green-gold grass as it waved in a gentle breeze. Mostly she was thinking about Legolas, indeed she'd been thinking of little else, and it sounded like she was even starting to talk like him she thought with a self-depreciating smirk. Her memory of the last few minutes was a little foggy except for the clamoring of her pulse in her veins, the tingle of her skin and... Mouse shook her head to clear it. It wouldn't do to think about him that way. She knew enough from the gossip around Calembel to know that he was ancient in human terms. Also he was a close personal friend of a king, make that kings in the plural sense, Mouse corrected herself. And she was... not someone who should be thinking about kissing someone like that. Something that Legolas had said though, had made something tickle in the back of Mouse's mind, the part where she imagined her memories should be, except as far as she knew she didn't have any, at least none that were more than ten years old. But there was something, a house and a river, and a lady with long yellow hair and water lilies, and someone singing...  
  
"Legolas!" Mouse jumped as Pippin called out loudly, "Breakfast!" Turning she saw the two hobbits spooning food into their mouths while Gimli righted his clothes and beard from the tangles of sleep. "Legolas!"  
  
"He said he would be back within the hour." Mouse said as she sat down on the hard rocky ground beside Merry. He silently offered her a plate and a warm smile.  
  
"Dig in." Pippin said around a mouthful of food and Mouse watched in astonishment as he piled her plate high with what looked like nuts and berries. In fact they *were* nuts and berries. She must have looked surprised because Pippin pointed at the food and explained. "We brought this along for Legolas, he doesn't eat bacon or anything like that, and it's a little rude to provide a meal that not everyone can eat, right Merry?"  
  
"Yes Pip. But if he doesn't get back soon, he'll be lucky to get any the way you two are shoveling it in." Merry said with a grin as he looked at Pippin and Gimli.  
  
"Just don't..." Gimli started to say  
  
".Tell the Elf we know, we know." Merry interrupted and he and Pippin giggled.  
  
"Don't tell me what exactly?" Legolas's low amused voice made them all turn around in surprise. "Perhaps I don't want to know?" He looked at Mouse and to her horror she felt herself start to blush. She felt a little better as his fingers twitched and then he reached up to half rub, half scratch his ear.  
  
"Squirrel food." Gimli's attempt at a disgusted tone was ruined by the fact that he was chewing. The food was curiously tasty, tastier than Mouse had expected for dried berries and shelled nuts. She looked up as a graceful hand stole a small handful from her plate and Legolas nudged her with his elbow before putting some in his mouth and sighing.  
  
"This is my kind of food." Legolas chewed for a while and Mouse forgot to eat while she watched him eat, with his usual economy of motion and grace. When his eyes closed in obvious pleasure Mouse had to look away with a stern 'staring is rude' to herself. She concentrated on what she was eating instead.  
  
"So how far through the caves are we going today?" Pippin asked before chasing a rogue nut around his bowl.  
  
"All the way through, we must make our way to Edoras as quickly as possible." Legolas answered and Mouse saw the obvious disappointment on Gimli's face and on Merry and Pippin's once Merry had nudged his friend who was busy celebrating his victory over the nut by popping it into his mouth with a flourish.  
  
"You mean as quickly after we've visited "the cave" right? That's what he means isn't it Merry?" When Pippin looked from Hobbit to Elf and then back again Mouse wondered what was special about this other cave. "I mean Gimli and, please don't take this the wrong way, Mouse could both do with a bath. Plus along with the food from Arwen, we also brought soap. Elf Soap." Pippin added with pride and obvious anticipation.  
  
"Thanks." Mouse said wryly, she stalled Pippin's apology with a smile, "I didn't take that the wrong way, and I do need a bath. Are you saying there are baths in here?" Mouse almost drooled at the thought of warm water and soap. It had been weeks since she'd had a proper bath, a couple of spring downpours didn't really cut it. Weeks... Mouse had almost lost count of how much time had passed since she had spotted Legolas and Gimli heading into Calembel. It was most off putting, as she was generally clean, and definitely not in the least bit smelly, in her line of work it could be dangerous for someone to be able to smell you coming. She shifted uncomfortably in her clothing, plus her wounds could probably do with some fresh air as well.  
  
"Baths? There's more than baths... well actually they're naturally heated pools." Pippin answered enthusiastically, his small face was alight with it.  
  
"And it *is* on the way." Merry added.  
  
"So it is! Well done laddie." Gimli patted Merry's shoulder.  
  
"Let me see," Legolas rubbed his chin thoughtfully, it was a sham Mouse could tell, it was obvious that he wanted to visit these baths as well. Not that he looked like he needed a bath; in fact Mouse didn't think she'd ever seen a more consistently perfectly groomed person. She held her breath waiting for the ear fondle...'Ah, there it is!' she thought with a swallowed giggle. "I suppose an hour or two couldn't hurt. As long as we make up the time, by not doing any sight seeing."  
  
"No sightseeing?" Gimli said in disbelief  
  
"The pool Gimli, the pool!" Merry was already packing his things into his bag, you can come back after visiting with Aragorn, which is what we're going to do right Legolas?"  
  
Mouse noticed the slight pause before Legolas answered, and knew it was because she was there, he didn't trust her, not that he had any real reason to, like he hadn't had any reason to invite her to travel with himself and Gimli. Why exactly had he? Mouse wondered as she chewed on the last of her berries and tried not to be insulted, or worse yet get hurt feelings.  
  
"We are going to Edoras, and then to Minas Tirith, that is to say, I will be going, I would not want to speak for you all of course." Legolas rose and walked across to the cave mouth.  
  
"You know we're coming." Merry said with a wink in Mouse's direction and then he stood and brushed himself off before slinging his bag onto his back. "Arwen promised to sing us a song when we got back, A Tale of two Hobbits I think she said it was called."  
  
"That should be The Misadventures of Two Rock Headed Hobbits, I should think" Gimli chuckled before getting to his feet and picking up his axe, which was never far from his hand. Mouse had picked it up once, the axe he called his "walking axe". It had been like picking up a large stone, it was so heavy Mouse and almost stumbled under its weight, she'd been saved by Gimli's quick intervention. He'd muttered something about getting her a smaller more delicate one. Not that he'd have the chance if they were all leaving Edoras as quickly as Legolas's statement had hinted. She walked over to her pack and picked up Legolas' cloak, it was so light, but it had kept her perfectly warm during the night. She carefully folded it letting her fingers linger of the strange fabric; all of the others had one of the same fabric as well. Mouse took a deep breath and approached Legolas as he stood watching the plains beyond.  
  
"Are you looking to make sure the ponies have gone?" She asked quietly, not totally convinced by the cavalier way first Legolas and then the hobbits had just let their mounts wander 'home'.  
  
"The horses know a good thing when they find it, Edoras is a place where all horses and ponies desire to stay." Legolas answered, glancing down at her and then back out to the horizon. Mouse snuck a look at his profile and then reminded herself about staring being rude again.  
  
"Plenty of hay and company can be nice for people as well as horses." Mouse said and surprised herself with a sigh. Seemed even someone who had a murky pool of nothing for a past could get homesick for a stable Mouse realized.  
  
"You can take the stable hand out of the stable but you can't take the sable out of the stable hand?" Legolas asked with a cheeky quirk of his eyebrow and Mouse thankfully took his cue to get them back into their previous, and much more comfortable, camaraderie. Teasing was better than uncomfortable silences where her heart rate soared and her fingertips tingled Mouse told herself sternly.  
  
"Right, so where are these baths?" Mouse asked as she handed him his cloak, he stowed it away in the small pack he carried and then turned to her with a smile. Mouse ignored her fingertips as best she could under the circumstances.  
  
"You'll see." He answered vaguely and they all set off, with the Hobbits chattering happily about the Shire and Gimli pointing out geological formations to Mouse, who was interested, maybe not as interested as she looked but it paid to know as much about your surroundings as possible in any given situation, plus it meant she could, mostly, ignore Legolas as he followed behind. She absently, as Gimli pointed out a thin seam of amethyst, wondered when he'd next check his cloak.  
  
It seemed like, and probably was, hours later when the Hobbits turned a corner and disappeared from view taking the torch with them, Mouse came to an abrupt halt in the sudden darkness, mostly because Gimli had come to an abrupt halt, Mouse let out a small "Oof!" as Legolas continued the trend and ran into her back.  
  
"Gimli?" Legolas asked his friend, clearly amused by the situation.  
  
"Oh, sorry" Gimli stepped forwards and started a chain reaction again.  
  
Mouse's mouth dropped open as she saw "The Cave". It was beautiful, pale amethyst water lapped at a tiny white sandy beach, and a waterfall revealed itself as the source of the noise Mouse had been hearing while they walked, the water seemed like it was lit from below, it glowed softly, lighting the Hobbits frantic movements as they shed bags, bundles and clothes in no particular order. There was a slight cough from Legolas and then a louder chestier one from Gimli. The Hobbits froze and looked up at Mouse as she tried to hold in a giggle. Gimli was blushing so hard she could feel the heat radiating off him and the hobbits started to adopt the same rosy hue. She clapped a hand over her eyes, but not before noticing that there really weren't that many differences between Hobbits and Men, which made her wonder if Elves were as similar. Suddenly Mouse was glad her face was covered.  
  
"There is a smaller pool behind the curtain of the waterfall, the water itself is not quite as refreshingly cool, but it will still serve you well as a bath if you wish." Legolas's voice sounded as warm as honey with her eyes closed and Mouse debated whether or not it would be better to open her eyes so should could concentrate, or keep them closed so he couldn't see her eyes. Closed won.  
  
"Ok, sounds good." She answered and jumped a little as Legolas's hand lightly gripped her elbow.  
  
"Kick your boots off and put your bow and pack down. Now come this way," He nudged her forwards and Mouse concentrated on keeping her footing on the sand, "There's a step up here and then.wait a minute, keep your eyes closed." Mouse did as she was told, because she wasn't sure she really needed to see Gimli as naked as the hobbits were. She couldn't hear much at all over the sound of the water falling and hitting the rocks just near her feet.  
  
"Eeeek!" Mouse let out a small shriek as cold water suddenly drenched her from head to toe. Her eyes opened and she turned around to look at Legolas accusingly, sure enough he was trying not to laugh. Trying not to laugh as he brushed his wet hair out of his eyes and water cascaded down his recently bared chest. Little rivulets of water tracing the pale golden planes and curves of his arms and chest, sliding downwards towards his leggings as they clung to his. 'It's rude to stare, it's rude to stare, it's... beautiful.' Mouse though to herself and then looked up. The play of muscles in his arm as he touched a finger to the top of his gracefully pointed ear made Mouse's mouth go dry. Then it occurred to her that he had taken his clothes off; yet still let her walk fully clothed through the cascade. "I suppose my clothes did need a wash."  
  
Legolas' laugh sounded like it was surprised out of him, which made Mouse laugh.  
  
"I was starting to wonder whether or not they weren't actually clothes but some form of hide." Legolas said between deep breaths.  
  
"You mean like this was my skin?" Mouse plucked at her soggy tunic. "This isn't me, well not all of it anyway."  
  
"I see." Legolas' smile slowly faded as he looked at her, Mouse suddenly realized how secluded the little grotto was, most of the sounds of the Hobbits and Gimli playing around behind the wall of water were muted. The strange light accentuated the blue in Legolas's eyes and glinted of the beads of water on his face and chest.  
  
"T... Mouse." He moved a small step towards her, and Mouse's breath caught.  
  
"SOAP!" Pippin's shout gave Mouse just enough time to blink as Legolas caught the flying projectile just before it hit her shoulder, but she still managed to fall backwards into the water, and swallow some of it. Legolas pulled her back to the surface with a hand on her shoulder.  
  
"Are you alright?" He asked in a concerned voice. Mouse knew she was fine but was having trouble getting words out as Legolas reached down to cup her face gently. "Mouse?"  
  
"I'm fine..." Mouse took a deep breath and then froze as she watched something black and blob-like float past her face. Scarier than any creature might be, Mouse cursed under her breath, it was her headscarf. Meaning that her head was no longer covered, and neither were her ears. Not that Legolas seemed to have noticed the second part yet, his hand had moved from her cheek into her hair. Their eyes met and Mouse wondered where all the water she'd swallowed had gone as once again her mouth went dry.  
  
"Autumn leaves." Legolas breathed. 


	8. New Clothes

Chapter 8. New clothes  
  
The fear in Mouse's eyes made Legolas pull back but not before he felt the coolness of metal against the back of his hand. Metal? On any other female he would have brushed aside his curiosity with an assumption that it was probably some kind of clip or comb to hold back her hair, but this wasn't in Mouse's hair it was under it, more like where her ear should be. A sudden memory of what her tiny little pointed ears had looked like, made Legolas want to see what they presently looked like. A lot. But She was moving away, as far away as she could get in the small pool. Which meant there was only one way he was going to get close enough to look.  
  
He had one foot in the pool by the time Mouse managed to blink and speak.  
  
"Wha... what are you doing?" Mouse looked around for somewhere else to go before Legolas managed to catch her eyes. He liked her eyes; they seemed to get darker when she was in the midst of an emotional response. He watched as her fear turned to wariness, and then she closed them. It was like a lamp going out Legolas thought absently as he waded into the water and his hand reached under her hair and lifted it.  
  
There was no delicate point, only silver. The entire top rim of her ear was covered in some kind of cuff. Bending down to look closer Legolas had only a brief glimpse of the symbols that formed the decoration before Mouse flinched away.  
  
"There, happy now? Curiosity soothed?"  
  
"In a way, I suppose yes." He answered slowly, his hand still tangled loosely in her hair, which was looking more and more like those autumn leaves as the water washed away the mud. "But what do." Mouse disappeared before he could finish asking the question, what exactly did the cuffs mean?  
  
He watched as she ducked under the water before following her under. He had a fleeting thought that the situation could easily turn into some kind of competition to see who could stay under water the longest when he found himself staring into Mouse's eyes again. She stared at him seriously through the clear water and he felt his body stir in response. She could have no idea that holding his gaze like that was considered to be a deliberate invitation where he came from. He was distracted enough that he didn't notice her sudden movement to the left and forward in time to counter it.  
  
He grunted a swallowed a bit of water in process as Mouse used him as a soft mounting block to vault herself over the low rock shelf and through the cascade. 'Nice move.' he thought with a small smile, although he probably could have done without the heel to the back of his head, which judging by the angle of Mouse's maneuver had been at least partially deliberate. So naked Hobbits and a Dwarf weren't as scary as an Elf. Then again humans generally considered the axiom "safety in numbers" to be correct. Personally Legolas preferred a select group or just himself, by himself he was a controllable variable, add one or more it just made things a little more complicated. Realizing he was sitting by himself, close to talking to himself, he retrieved the small bar of soap and took advantage of the privacy, slowly taking the time to soap himself thoroughly, not quite ready to admit that he was more shaken by his reaction than he cared to have been. Rinsing himself off Legolas finally noticed that the soap smelled of strawberries.  
  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
  
Stepping through the wall of water Legolas watched as Mouse performed one of the most amazing feats of contortionism he'd ever seen. He had no doubt every inch of skin under her dark (black, purple or green, he still couldn't tell what colour they actually were) clothes was much cleaner than it had been for at least a week. After she'd soaped under her clothes she started soaping the clothes themselves, standing as close to where the water flowed back into the mountain rock she washed and wrung herself out then dragged herself out of the water and stood wringing as much of it out of the many layers of cloth of her shirt and trousers as she could before starting the process over again.  
  
There seemed to be one flaw in her ritual though: now that her hair was clean it fell heavily down past her shoulders and kept tangling around her arms and face and it was clearly a source of annoyance Legolas thought in a conscious effort not to notice how beautiful her hair was. Her hair, it was as if someone had modeled and put her in Middle Earth to answer all of his fantasies. Though her hair would be an unsolvable mess of tangles if it weren't brushed out soon. He started to move forwards when Gimli beat him to it. In a clean gambeson, only lightly marked with rust from his habitual chain mail Gimli approached Mouse with his brush and comb. Her bright smile and a burst of laughter was enough to have Legolas finding something (anything) interesting in his quiver, and it drew the hobbits out of the water. Legolas felt something cold against his hand, now *that* was interesting.  
  
"Here let me." Gimli's voice was gruff as he took the brush from Mouse's hand and started to work at the back of her hair while she combed the front. The hobbits kept up a steady stream of commentary, and pipe smoke as they rustled in their packs for something dry to wear.  
  
"Lady Eowyn made me this new waistcoat." Merry said proudly, puffing out his chest in its rich green velvet.  
  
"That's nice Merry." Pippin said appreciatively, Legolas noticed the new shirt the smaller hobbit slipped into, the herald symbol of the Rohirrim stitched in a matching pale butter yellow on the collar. He picked up the quiet sound of water dripping and realized it was the sound of water dripping from Mouse's clothes. The only thing she seemed to be carrying was a water bottle and her horse bow. It cemented Legolas' impression that she hadn't been planning to leave Calembel at all; following them had been on the spur of the moment. And he suspected that finding the path through Fangorn had been a lucky accident as well. But apart from the fact he had no idea why she had actually followed them, she would be incredibly uncomfortable walking in damp clothes through the rest of the caves. He considered letting her do it as he fingered the spot that her foot had connected with earlier and then held out his cloak instead, wondering at the same time when he'd become so intimately acquainted with the concepts of jealousy and revenge.  
  
Probably when Mouse had adeptly diverted Gimli's attention from her hair and ears and started plaiting the Dwarf's long red beard.  
  
"You'd better put this on while your clothes dry." He said quietly and Mouse looked up at him in surprise, apparently she'd forgotten he was there. 'Oh and look I have an ego that can be battered by someone who's little older than a child...' Legolas didn't realize he'd grunted out loud until Gimli laughed at him. "We should get moving... and soon." He was definitely slipping Legolas thought as he finally recognized the vague unease he'd been feeling for the past few minutes wasn't all to do with Mouse. She had retreated to behind the last part of the tunnel to make use of the cloak.  
  
"Heh, I suppose we shouldn't let on that what she just did means we're engaged." Gimli said on a low rumble of laughter. Distracted Legolas looked at Gimli slightly askance, and his friend pointed to his neatly groomed and plaited beard. "She did this in a Dwarvish betrothal pattern. Fancy eh?"  
  
"Oh." Legolas was laughing before he could help it. Soon tears were making tracks down his face and he had to use Gimli to hold himself up.  
  
"It not really *that* amusing Legolas." Gimli said, starting to get a bit affronted by Legolas's uncontrollable giggles. "I don't think I've ever heard you giggle without a couple of skinfulls of wine before."  
  
"What's so funny?" the Hobbits asked almost in concert with Mouse as she reappeared with the cloak wrapped around her like a toga.  
  
"It nothing, nothing at all." Gimli answered guiltily for Legolas, who was concentrating on breathing and not on Mouse's bare shapely legs and arms, and not on the sounds he should have been. Sudden silence followed a large cracking sound.  
  
"Oh fuck." Mouse said succinctly as the cave wall seemed to disintegrate and the world was filled with water. 


	9. Hobbits Clinging Like Leeches

Fangorn 9. Clinging Like Leeches  
  
Without sunlight being filtered through delicate amethyst crystal the water was no longer a peaceful purple, what it was, was brown rock filled and cold, very cold. Resisting the urge to take another silt filled mouthful of the stuff Mouse hauled on Gimli's gambeson, the heaviness of both the fabric and the dwarf were beyond her strength to do any more than hold them both in place and hope that Legolas hadn't been swept away so that he could rescue them.  
  
The cavern was filled with fast flowing water coupled with an occasional large wave as boulders crashed into flow, most of the time all Mouse had had time to do was curse and take a deep breath of air before water and rocks had cascaded down over all of them. A deep gash on Gimli's forehead was the only damage to the comatose Dwarf that she could see, and she hoped that it was the only damage as she looked out at the large boulders that had rolled to a stop just nearby. They were trapped by one of the larger boulders. Gimli's gambeson was stuck underneath it, and the rushing water made it impossible for Mouse to remove it from his limp heavy body, as hard as she tried she couldn't tear or rip the fabric. And still the water was coming, and she still hadn't seen the hobbits or Legolas.  
  
Looking down as her fingers cramped again Mouse made a noise that could have been pure frustration, or as she suspected, more like a sniffle. She could see that soon the water would swamp the dwarf. She had one last go at pulling him free, and then another go at waking him up. She knew that with any head injury it was unwise to shake him too hard though. Her face felt like it was burning as tears tracked down her face. Taking a deep breath she dove under the water and positioned herself as stably as she could and heaved Gimli up with her shoulder to keep his head above the water. Unconscious he'd never survive. She never saw the rock fall from the roof of the cave. It was probably fortunate that the rock struck her unconscious before it pinned her arm to the floor of the cave  
  
Legolas made sure everything; particularly the hobbits were secure further down the tunnel. They'd made it back to dry ground; the hobbits were starting to complain about the state of their new clothes so he was fairly sure they'd survive. The initial force of the water had made him loose his footing but he'd found himself pressed up against the old wall of the cave with the two hobbits clinging like leeches to his arms. He'd have to make sure to thank Pippin for grabbing his bow out of the water as it drifted past. A large splash drew his attention back to the cave. Where were Gimli and Mouse? As he entered the cave he saw a final great wave crashing over Gimli's head and then the dwarf was gone from his view. Legolas ran.  
  
Gimli spluttered as he felt water rushing up into his nose, which was rather disconcerting, not more so than finding himself in water, and unable to remove himself from it. "Something's got ma' cloak" he said out loud to himself and then realized that he was also being held above the waterline by something softer than the rock that seemed to be holding him down. He reached down and felt something soft, and hairy. His initial panic was replaced by real panic as he saw the color of the hair between his stout fingers. Red hair. "Mouse!" he yelled and scrabbled blindly through the murky water. He was no swimmer. And each second that passed made him more frantic. He took a deep breath and submerged himself.  
  
"Gimli!" Legolas neared the spot were he'd seen Gimli disappear just seconds before. "Gimli!" He reached out to steady his friend as he resurfaced with a splutter, a deep gash on his forehead made Legolas wince. Gimli thrashed a little in the water and then yelled something unintelligible while pointing at the large boulder beside him.  
  
"Could you move yer Elf-like self to help me move this thing?" Gimli grumbled and pushed at the boulder with his shoulder. As Legolas stepped closer Gimli yelled "Not there! Ye'll step on the wee thing!" Legolas walked around the spot and added his strength to Gimli's efforts. The boulder shifted suddenly and the rolled away in the current. "And now we can get tae her..." Legolas strained to see what Gimli was talking about and then felt his heart stop as he saw the strand of hair twined around Gimli's wrist.  
  
"She's down . . . there?" Legolas asked and at Gimli's mute look he ducked under the water and cursed the silt that made looking for her impossible, he felt his way instead, relying on what his fingertips told him. He gently lifted the large rock pinning Mouse's arm and then lifted her carefully out of the water.  
  
"Is she breathing?" Gimli asked anxiously. Legolas didn't stop moving towards the edge of the water and the hobbits. "Damn you laddie, is she breathing I asked!" Gimli huffed behind him, finding the wading a bit harder with water coming up to his chest.  
  
"Legolas?" Merry asked solemnly as the tall elf bent over the muddily forlorn Mouse. "Is she breathing?" Legolas looked up and then back down at Mouse's still face.  
  
"No." 


End file.
